Saturday
Jan222005
Saturday, January 22, 2005 at 06:20PM
When Barbara Walters asked Bush last week if the war in Iraq was worth
it, even though no WMDs were found, he responded, "Oh, absolutely" the
way someone might respond were they asked at a cocktail party, "Would
you care for another pretzel?" Think about it: We've invaded a country
in the heart of the 1.1-billion-strong Muslim world under false
pretenses, laid waste to their cities, tortured their people, allowed
their cultural treasures to be looted, killed more than 100,000
civilians (that's the confirmed number; it's likely twice or thrice
that), and stolen their oil, the one cash crop they have, taunting them
every step of the way. And the man responsible says "Oh, absolutely,"
it was worth it. No matter what happens with the Iraqi elections on
Jan. 30 -- and I anticipate chaos and bloodshed -- the justifications
and excuses for this war were lies. The rest of the world knows this.
Why don't we? Another thing you may not know, because it was reported
by the foreign press: 5,500 U.S. soldiers have already deserted, either
going permanently AWOL or seeking asylum in Canada, Mexico or anywhere
that will have them. Maybe these soldiers figured it out before the
rest of you. Maybe they've seen one too many stories like the
following, from last week: A U.S. warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb on
the wrong house in Mosul. The man who owned the house said the bomb
killed 14 people; an AP photographer on the scene confirmed the number
and said seven of the victims were children. The U.S. military admitted
to dropping the bomb, and that it hit the wrong house, but they insist
that only five people were killed. Oh, absolutely. It was worth it. [more]